Move over Optimus Prime: have a new favorite transformer. His name is Joe, and he has the best Nerd Fitness success story I have EVER seen. In 10 months of following Nerd Fitness, Joe has lost 128 pounds. If you are (really) overweight, out of shape, and worried that it’s too late to get started – stop. It will take time, and it won’t be easy, but it IS possible. Let’s meet Joe, my new hero.

Ladies, meet your new hero. Men, prepare to be humbled. My friend Staci, or Spezzy as she’s known around the Nerd Fitness community, has one of the best success stories I’ve ever seen. For the women out there who are scared about “getting too bulky when lifting weights,” this article is for you. If you’re curious what happens to a girl who packs on twenty pounds of muscle and starts lifting heavy weights, you’ll find your answer here…I have no doubt it will surprise the hell out of you.

Nerd Fitness rebels come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. They also come in every type of “nerd” possible: book nerds, video game nerds, cosplay nerds, even Bible nerds! Today, I want to introduce you to Ryan. He is pictured above in his “before” phase, and is studying to become a Catholic priest! Ryan spent the past two years struggling to find a path to a healthy lifestyle that worked for him. Somehow, that path lead him to Nerd Fitness and the our community, and an overall weight loss of 115 pounds (and counting!). Here is his story.

Meet Jake, a 24 year old Rebel from the UK who lost over 70 pounds (32 kg) in 9 months! Jake, like many new Rebels, once lived an entirely sedentary lifestyle. But then Jake found Nerd Fitness, began strength training, and rediscovered his self confidence. Let’s learn how Jake channeled his inner Transformer and changed his life.

Meet my friend Saint, who has one of the most incredible success stories I have EVER seen. After graduating college, Saint took a desk job as a computer programmer and watched as his weight slowly started to creep up…like every other average American. Over the past two years, he was able to slowly and steadily bring that down before having an incredible breakthrough that allowed him to transform drastically. Here’s how he did it.

Meet Veronica, your newest superhero inspirational NF success story! Veronica is a medical assistant and continuing her education to become a diagnostic medical sonographer, and she’s managed to lose 28 pounds over the past few months without TOUCHING a treadmill. Oh yeah, and she’s also a super mom of two!

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you have a clear goal in mind. Six months ago, I received an email from a reader named Stephen who told me that he had a wedding coming up in May 2012, and that he hoped to get in shape for it. Since then, he’s become an absolute machine, day in day out, dominating his workouts and putting a huge focus on eating right. Stephen got married weighing in at 213, a full 57 POUNDS lost since January. This is his story.

Meet Tony, a Nerd Fitness rebel and the man behind another kick-ass success story that needs to be shared with the world. In just a few short months, this dad went from an overweight chain smoker to a superhero that dropped almost fifty pounds and quite smoking for good! Here’s how he did it.

Anne’s an actress, singer, and writer living in New York City. Not too long ago, Anne was a slave to games like World of Warcraft, playing them in ever spare moment she had. She was stuck in a cycle. She never realized she could apply the lessons learned in World of Warcraft and level up in real life, so she never did. Fortunately, Anne eventually discovered that the secret to getting healthy was right under her nose the entire time. Let’s learn how Anne did it!

Meet Wes, an Apple Certified Mac Tech at a university Apple Campus Store. Wes was a never very active kid. From an early age he was always a little overweight and developed some bad diet habits. By the time Wes started college, he weighed 250 lbs. There his unhealthy habits only continued. After years of junk food and no exercise, he eventually found himself at 325 lbs. Then he decided to make a change.

Meet Ben, a 44-year-old fundraising and software consultant and father of two! Just earlier this year, Ben was living a sedentary life. At 280 lbs, classified as “morbidly obese,” Ben found he was unhappy with his current track, out of energy, and in need of a change. But then he decided he wanted to get healthy, found Nerd Fitness, and over the next 10 months lost over 100 lbs.

Meet Bronwyn (AKA Athena): Rebel, powerlifter, and mother of two (four and six years old). Bronwyn started 2012 with a commitment to get healthy. Starting from a sedentary lifestyle, she decided to start walking – a lot. After googling “how to do a pullup” and finding nerd fitness, her routine evolved and she found a diet strategy that worked for her.

Check out this super couple, Josh and Leah. Josh has dropped over 100 pounds in six months, and Leah has dropped 60 pounds over eighteen months! They had a damn good reason to get healthy, leaned on each other for support, and were able to implement habits that suck.

Daniel, Austrian working in the video game industry, started in a place many of us have: using video games as an escape. But after heading down a cycle of unhealthy eating and inactivity, Daniel found Nerd Fitness, along with the path to a healthier, leveled up life.

Although he tried to get healthy many times throughout the years, this time it stuck, dropping a TREMENDOUS amount of weight, turning his life around, and having a damn good time with it.

Anthony is a 30 year old application developer out of Raleigh, NC, and one of the most amazing transformations I’ve ever seen. He dropped 210 pounds in one year as part of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion, and documented the entire process along the way!

One day, Anthony realized that he needed to do something more than level up his World of Warcraft character – he needed to level up his real life too. Find out how!